The stunned investigator asked: “What, the World Cup?” He replied: “At least, at least 15… I bought the match.”

Two men were last night charged with conspiracy to defraud. Chann Sankaran, 33, from Singapore and Krishna ­Ganeshan, 43, who has dual UK and ­Singapore ­nationality, are due to appear before ­magistrates in Cannock, Staffs, tomorrow.

This inquiry centres on matches played at top non-league clubs in England.

And a Mirror investigation has ­uncovered the extent of the problem in games in the Conference and Conference South leagues. One investigator told us: “This is just the tip of a very large iceberg.

”They will bet on anything in the Far East, they don’t care what it is.

“Reserves matches, women’s friendly matches and non-league games. There is no end to it. So nobbling the players is just part of the deal.”

Our probe found:

A non-league boss was phoned up and woken in the middle of the night and warned his team would lose heavily the next day. They did;

Three incidents in one game by one player described as so ridiculous they were “mind boggling”;

A goalkeeper pulling his hands away from a shot;

A defender clearly attempting to handle three times;

Dozens of late goals, having a dramatic effect on spread betting.

There is also an “Essex boys” gang – players at the centre of some of the ­allegations. They played for a number of the county’s teams including Chelmsford City, ­Hornchurch and Billericay Town.

The clubs were identified following ­irregular betting patterns earlier this year but no action was taken.

Billericay chairman Steve Kent said tonight: “I have implored the FA to ­investigate. I’m so ­disappointed with them. The FA put out a statement saying they are not the police but they are the governing body.

“I know for a fact when these allegations emerged earlier this year no one from the FA contacted me or Chelmsford or Hornchurch. That can’t be right.”

The new National Crime Agency is investigating the nobbling claims. The alleged fixer secretly recorded by the Telegraph is understood to represent the Far East gambling gang involved in the multi-billion pound industry.

The conversation was recorded at a hotel in Manchester by an ­investigator with links to Fifa. The alleged fixer believed he was trying to influence a match.

While discussing English clashes, the man claimed he could fix games all over the world – except in Singapore where the penalties are very high. He said he worked hand in hand with a registered licensed Fifa agent.

Speaking in broken English, the man added: “He’s a very close friend. My boss is the one who asked him to spend the money to get the licence.”

The alleged fixer claimed to have set up international friendly matches.

Some of these have already been the centre of concern amid allegations they were rigged. Asked how the system worked, he replied: “Yeah so he is very close with me. I’m [the] one who’s sending money… he can organise any match around the world.

"That’s the reason why I say I can organise any game any tournament. Cause I use his licence I will ask him if OK he can arrange international friendly for this team before, usually before any World Cup match or any tournament there will be friendly match, a warm-up.”

In a second meeting, the alleged fixer claimed he could control matches in Europe.

He said: “I got team in Belgium. France as well I got. Good teams. Their country, most of these place their ­salaries are very low. Like Germany, the players, they pay high, France not so high. Very moderate. But Finland, Belgium, Sweden, all everybody all [earn] very less.”

Speaking about his claims the syndicate would order players to get yellow cards to show they were involved in the fixing scam, the man said: “For example, within the first 10 minutes, I will ask them to take one yellow card. So, one yellow card is about £5,000.

“So I say (to the player), okay, in the first 10 minutes I need to see the yellow. If there’s no yellow, that’s it, I will not pay you anything.”

The Crown Prosecution Service confirmed it has liaised with the NCA during the investigation. And the FA said: “We have worked closely with the authorities in relation to these allegations.”

Striker Facey, 33 – who starred for a number of Premier League clubs including Bolton Wanderers and Hull City - had been picked to play for his current team Albion Sports of Bradford in the NCEL Premier League on Wednesday but did not appear.

Club secretary Jaj Singh said: “He was due to come but didn’t turn up.

“He was named on the sub’s bench but was a no-show. I have no idea. He’s been with us about three months and is a cracking lad.”